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Old 14th Feb 2005, 21:53
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Irish Steve
 
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: Ashbourne Co Meath Ireland
Age: 73
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No towbar on station. Noooooo problem.

Happened a while back at an airport not too far from me, a DC8 of all things got diverted in due to inclement WX at it's original tech stop. It got parked a long way from anything else even remotely respectable, and then , once the WX had improved enough to allow it to continue, all was prepared to push it back and allow it to continue on it's smokey way. Weeeellllllll. Almost all. No bar on station. Lots of long complicated transatlantic mobile phone calls, frantic searches of the long grass of the airport in case one was hiding somewhere, but no, no bar.

Eventual solution. Wrap a number of cargo straps around one of the main gear legs, attach a suitable power push back tug behind the wing, take up the slack, and puuuulllllllll.

Broke just about every health and safety rule in the book, and a few more, as well as a whole clipboard full of airport byelaws but shure they got it back far enough that it could then start and self position off the stand by crossing a couple more, and away it eventually smoked into the distance.

Oh the joys of (one upon a time) being a rampie!!!
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